Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time
It could have been the 10,000 Greatest Guitarists of All Time and everyone would still be going “What?!? You forgot __________________ !!!”
(Here's the link to Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of all time.)
My own “Hey, what about _______________” list would include Roy Buchanan, Danny Gatton, Allan Holdsworth, Jan Akkerman, Stanley Jordan, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Vernon Reid.
Oh, and James Hetfield made the list but Kirk Hammett didn’t? Uh, OK…
posted by Tom Harper @ 1:04 AM
23 Comments:
I agree Satrianni should have been there as should Roy Clark and Chet Atkins...
First you have to define 'great,' and given that the most stat-heavy of sports, baseball, still has arguments over what constitutes 'valuable' in a game of immense measurables, how the hell can you quantify the unmeasurable?
I've met Joe Satriani several times and he is one of the most down to earth people you could ever imagine. I was surprised they never included him myself but the list they do have is ok. It's that time of year again for the lists of best in______________ so we will all be dissapointed in some of them right.
I would have included Mark Knopfler in the Top 10 -- but then, it isn't my list.
Les Paul for godsakes. They even named a guitar after the man. Jeez. Bunglers, I tell you...the list was made up by bunglers!
Roy Clark, absolutely! And Mason Ruffner!
Les Paul is actually on the list at #18. That would have been a sacrilege had he been omitted -- he invented the solid-body guitar. But he should have been in the top 10, jadedj -- you're right!
And why is Kurt Cobain on the list? The blurb about him begins "he's no virtuoso" -- I thought that was the point????
Just saying. :)
Screamin...oops, in a hurry and I should have read the complete list. I actually only read the top 10 somewhere else. Even so, I thought he should be at least number 5. Bunglers, I tell you!
Cobain at 12 and Zappa at 45 is an absolute joke. 8-)
That is, Zappa ought to be way higher, like in the top 10 or 15 in my opinion.
The guitarists list was interesting and I couldn't fault it.
But check out the singers' list. It's a travesty. They put Willie Nelson at 88 and Mariah Carey at 79? They don't bother with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Bing, Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Frankie Laine, Barbra Streisand, Jo Stafford, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Shore, Dean Martin, Jonny Mathis or Linda Ronstadt at all?
No need to ask what the twentysomethings at Rolling Stone were smoking when they made that list: some bad . . . stuff.
Ah, c'mon, Mr. Anderson, it's Rolling Stone, not Life... ;-)
Reminds me once again why I never read that useless rag.
Rolling Stone is a Rock Magazine (though they don't like to think so anymore) and they should have called it 100 greatest Rock guitarist of all time. This means the majority of any list they do are going to be Rock artist which also means they are going to be white. Only the Blues guitarist (who are considered pioneers) and/or the few R&B and Country guitarist who crossed over will be included. Otherwise their list are always lacking in serious diversity and trended towards their younger readers who want to see their heroes included, regardless if they've done anything significant or not.
Erik
Erik...exactly.
Erik, I see a fair amount of diversity in the guitarists' list. But you're right, they should specify rock, C&W and blues for the singers' list. Even for rock, how could they omit Fats Domino? For a long time, he had more No. 1 hits and album sales than Elvis.
SW
As you stated the Jazz musicians are sorely absent and the big secret is they influenced everybody else on all the list. A lot of influential R&B guitarist are also missing.
BTW where is Segovia?
Erik
I also have to wonder their criteria here. Sales (a lot of big sellers in the upper half). Influence (a lot of pioneers are in the lower half).
A lot of credit is given to the younger generation who bust their butts to play like my generation. So if you try to play like Hendrix, sing like John Lee Hooker and sell a lot of records, you too can be among the greatest?
Erik
PS Anyone notice we're getting more passionate about this then we are the Tea Party?
What a nice break from Politics LOL!
Erik...there are no great Tea bagger guitarists.
jadedj -- At least none that we know of. :)
ACE FREHLEY not on the list? WTF !!!
Jeff Baxter and Larry Carlton should be on there as well as Rick Derringer and Tommy Bolin.
Lets not leave off Mathias Jabs, Craig Chaquico and how in the hell do you not put Elvin Bishop on there?
I could be here for years explaining how I would move things around, but I'll just list the jazz guitarists I think Rolling Stone should have at least nodded at: Pat Metheny, Wes Montgomery. I'd say Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt but I'm not sure if they're on there or not. I'd take out Bruce Springsteen for sure. Also surprised to see Nels Cline on the list, that was the pleasant kind of surprise.
Post a Comment
<< Home